Dr. Sweeney is the designated institutional official at Women & Infants as well as a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where he also served as associate dean of continuing medical education (CME) for 17 years. He has served as director of ambulatory care, including the Women's Primary Care Center. In announcing the award, the Medical Society leadership credited Dr. Sweeney with guiding the group's CME Committee for 20 years.

"For several decades, Dr. Sweeney has been a faithful steward of our continuing medical education efforts here at the hospital and on a state-wide level as well," says Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, interim chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Women & Infants. "Ongoing education and research are keys to keeping clinicians practicing with the latest in techniques and technology. Women & Infants is recognized as the premier hospital for women and newborns in this region because of our quality and education efforts.

"The contributions of Dr. Sweeney cannot be overstated. It is fitting that the Medical Society honor him with this award," Dr. Phipps continued.

About Women & Infants Hospital

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women's medicine, Women & Infants is the eighth largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country with nearly 8,400 deliveries per year.In 2009, Women & Infants opened the country's largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.

New England's premier hospital for women and newborns, Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation's only mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation's only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.

Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiography; a Center for In Vitro Maturation Excellence by SAGE In Vitro Fertilization; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Gynecologic Oncology Group and the National Institutes of Health's Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.